Artist: Unknown; Oil on canvas
Archibald Cunningham Harrison was born in Richmond, Virginia while his
mother was a refugee during the last year of the Civil War. He studied medicine
for one year at the University of Virginia and then for two years at the
University of Maryland, graduating in 1887. He worked briefly for Dr. William
Halsted at Hopkins.
He moved to rural Pennsylvania for several years, practicing every kind of
medicine and performing all types of surgery.
After his return to Baltimore,
Dr. Harrison studied anatomy and worked perfecting his dissecting skills. He
became a Professor of Surgery and Anatomy first at the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, and later, when they merged, at the University of Maryland.
In 1906, Dr. Harrison was elected president of the Baltimore City Medical
Society, and in 1913, he was made the President of the Medical &
Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland.
When WWI broke out, he approached the Red Cross with an idea of small
mobile medical units, but was refused. However, shortly afterwards, these units
were found to be the ideal form of medical support, and he was eventually given
a Citation from General Pershing for “meritorious and conspicuous service at
Base Hospital 42 in France”, where he served, achieving the rank of Colonel.
Although healthy as a young man, and successful enough at baseball to be
offered a professional contract, his health suffered greatly after the war, and
he died at age 62 from a heart ailment.
It was said that he
was “in every storm of life, an oak and a rock, but in the sunshine, a vine and
a flower”.
How delightful to find this portrait of Dr. A. C. Harrison who formed Base Hospital no. 42 for the American Expeditionary Forces. My grandfather, Dr. Herbert H. Haynes, graduated from the Baltimore College of Physicians and Surgeons and served with him in France..
ReplyDelete